


fresh meat

by azkabanter



Series: The Young Professionals [1]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/F, Office AU, boss!lexa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-26
Updated: 2015-03-26
Packaged: 2018-03-19 17:53:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3618909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/azkabanter/pseuds/azkabanter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lexa meets her new employee for the first time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	fresh meat

The clock time flickers over to 8:52AM before Lexa looks up from the stack of paper spread before her. So many contracts, so little time. _And yet_. Brow furrowed, Lexa rolls back in her chair for a second, scrutinising the pile. _Something was missing._ She moves her coffee mug on to a different pile, accidentally elbowing a binder off her desk.

“Shit.” Lexa mutters, gulping back the remainder of her coffee as she watches the papers flutter.  How was that for a metaphor for her life right now? There was one contract she had to add to this pile before her early lunch with that one guy from--- since when was she so disorganised? Leaning across her desk, she thumbed the worn button to put her through to her PA.

“Alicia.” No answer. She holds it down again, frown deepening across her face. “Alicia, have you got the Kellerman contract?” Still no answer. She straightens, unwilling to venture out of her office when she’s surrounded by this mess. It was not the way this worked. This is why she _had_ a PA in the first place –

Her phone was ringing now. The light flashed on the same worn button and she pressed it, irritated.

“Alicia, why aren’t you at yo--,”

“Sorry, sorry!”

Lexa is cut off, and she almost reels back with the shock – not really for the fact that she’s interrupted, but for that it wasn’t Alicia. She opts to pick up the handset, rather than press on the button any longer.

“You’re not Alicia.”

“Nope!”

“Where is Alicia?”

“Maternity leave. There was a leaving party for her, I’m told.”

Lexa is struck by the honeyed, husky tones of her voice. It’s a far cry from Alicia’s nasally drone that regularly gave her a headache if she had to listen to it too often in a day. It’s a small relief, though, given the rest of the day. Had she been told about this girl? She hadn’t even realised Alicia had been _pregnant_ , let alone ready to leave and give birth.

“Er, Ms Fletcher? Did you need something from me?”

Lexa cleared her throat and focused on the handset weighted in her palm.

“Do you have the Kellerman file?” Lexa thumbs a pile of papers as she cradles the phone between her cheek and her shoulder, checking to make sure she doesn’t have it. Nope. Definitely not here.  She’s brought back when she hears the new PA’s voice sound over the line; for a brief second, she wishes that she didn’t always have the shades drawn between hers and the PA’s desk. Just to put a face to a voice. Because that voice. That voice was – well, it was really nice.

“I’m sorry, Ms Fletcher, I don’t seem to have it here, I could go t—“

The irritation is back, stronger than before, and Lexa ignores the sweet cadence of the new recruit flailing to save herself.

“Okay, listen, I really don’t have time for this.” Lexa stands up, walking to the end of her desk, stretching the cord on the phone as far as it will go so she can survey her reflection in the mirror. Her hair is perfect, thankfully.

“If I could just –,”

“You should be aware that I have a business meeting in less than,” she looks at the clock. 9:05AM. “Ten minutes. After which I’ll be out to lunch with clients.” The line is silent for a second before Lexa hears the girl murmur a yes in response.

“Get me that file by the time I return, or I can promise you this will be the shortest job you’ve ever held.”

Lexa didn’t slam the phone down. She placed it, _precisely_ , whirring back to the mirror to check her hair once more. Her cheeks were flushed red, but other than that, there was no way to tell she was het up. Hair: still perfect. Suit: spotless. Eye liner: on point. Mind: still mildly reeling, mixed in with perhaps a slight bit of guilt at her maybe slightly harsh treatment of her new assistant. Surveying her reflection for a second more, she nods at herself, turns and heads for the office door. Her hand rests on the door handle for a second as she considers what scenarios could take place, and she squares her shoulders in preparation for whatever this new person might do, might look like, and might say to her. All this from barely a minute interaction.

But she needn’t have worried. Lexa opens the door and finds the desk that should occupy her PA empty. Snapping her fingers impatiently, she catches the attention of a harried looking intern who seems mildly terrified to be in her presence. As he should. She jerks her chin in the direction of the empty desk.

“Have you seen…,” Lexa tails off as she realises she doesn’t actually know her name.

“Clarke,” the intern supplies, with wide eyes, and Lexa narrows her own in response.

“Clarke.” She tests the name on her tongue and wishes she knew what the girl looked like. Perhaps she was grasping at anything and everything to distract her from the mundane day ahead (this meeting was to be long and tedious, the lunch to follow, even more so), and so this new girl, this Clarke, was currently bearing the weight of that wish to be distracted. Unfair for the new girl, perhaps, but Lexa couldn’t keep the members waiting any longer.

“She was going down to Accounts to bring something up, Ms Fletcher. I could call her up, if you need her?”

 Lexa waved her hand, dismissive.

“No matter. Just tell Clarke I need that file by the end of the day. She knows which one.”

The intern nods and lurches off in the opposite direction to Lexa, who fixes a smile on to her face and strides purposefully into the boardroom at the end of the floor, opening up the double doors.

“Gentleman, apologies, I was delayed. Shall we begin?”

The meeting passes in a blur of charts, numbers, projections, and Lexa is out the door after an hour, shaking clammy businessmen hands and feeling the smile, frozen on her face, ache. _I need a drink._ Except she still has that one lunch to deal with. Lexa supresses a sigh as she bids the last man goodbye, resolving to nip back to her office so she can quickly freshen up.

 

-

There’s a knock on the door that is, frankly, unexpected. Lexa doesn’t look away from her computer screen as she says:

“Yes?”

You can hear the irritation in her voice.

“Ms Fletcher, I have the Kellerman contract for you.”

Lexa all but freezes in place, her hand hovering over her mouse. It was Clarke. She sounded upset. For a second, Lexa bites her tongue, fighting the urge to look. _This is a ridiculous thought, Lex. You can’t not look at your new employee. Just. Easy. Easy does it._ She forces herself to type the remainder of the sentence and then chances a glance; Clarke is closer than she expected, about an inch from the other side of her desk with her arm outstretched, the contract in her hand, as she makes to place it before her.

Wow.

Clarke is stunning. If Lexa didn’t know she could control herself better, she probably would’ve visibly gulped. And she’s looking straight back at her.

Clarke breaks the stare off almost immediately, looking down and away, bashful. Lexa could swear there was a hint of colour on her cheeks that wasn’t there a second ago. Realising that she’s not spoken yet to Clarke, Lexa clears her throat, loudly, wrenching her gaze away and back to her computer screen, staring resolutely at pixels, seeing nothing, as she speaks:

“Thank you. That will be all, Clarke.”


End file.
